Popular Canadian comedy festival Just for Laughs has turned to Maker Studios to build its brand on the web and YouTube in particular, the two companies said Thursday. Maker will manage Just for Laughs’ Gags channel, which has more than 3.7 million subscribers and offers a mix of pranks and walking tours.
Maker will also create a new Just for Laughs website powered by its own player and launch a new comedy YouTube channel for the brand.
In return, Just for Laughs will develop shows with Maker for the annual festival, one of the largest comedy events in the world. Maker talent will get to perform at Just for Laughs, which takes place in Montreal.
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“Comedy is one of our key verticals, and this partnership will allow us to bring Just For Laughs’ hilarious content to a global audience of online viewers, and work together to create opportunities for the next generation of comedians to develop original programming at the annual festival,” Maker Studios’ chief audience officer Chris Williams said in a statement.
Maker’s network of channels generate more than 4.5 billion views a month, and many of its most popular channels largely feature comedy, including KassemG, “Epic Rap Battles of History” and “Bad Lip Reading.”
